Authorities give update on Charlie Kirk assassination Authorities give update on Charlie Kirk assassination Authorities give update on Charlie Kirk assassination
00:00Hello, everyone. I'm Bo Mason, Commissioner for the Utah Department of Public Safety.
00:21Today, approximately 1220 Mountain Standard Time, political influencer Charlie Kirk was shot in an event at the Utah Valley University.
00:33He was taken by a private vehicle to Timpanogos Hospital, where he later passed.
00:40The Utah Department of Public Safety will be co-leading this criminal investigation to find this killer, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
00:48We were working in unison with the county sheriff's office, the local police department, and the university police department,
00:55all of which have been very cooperative and fully engaged in this process.
01:01Shortly after the shooting, we did have a suspect in custody, George Zinn,
01:06but he was released from custody after we identified that he did not match the shooting suspect and was not an accurate person of interest.
01:14However, he has been booked into the county jail by Utah Valley University Police Department for obstruction of justice.
01:24We do still have an active investigation for the person of interest.
01:30This incident occurred with a large crowd around. There was one shot fired and one victim.
01:37While the suspect is at large, we believe this was a targeted attack towards one individual.
01:43This is a tragic moment in our state and our country.
01:49As we heal, we encourage everyone who is struggling with news of the incident to call 988, our state mental health crisis line.
01:58In addition to that, our partners with the FBI will also be discussing other ways we can communicate through the public for tips and other information.
02:11Good afternoon.
02:13On behalf of the FBI, we extend our sincerest condolences to the family and friends of Charlie Kirk.
02:22Our thoughts are also with the people who witnessed this traumatic event.
02:27We know that what you experienced was very difficult.
02:31Our thoughts are with you as well.
02:34As soon as we heard about the shooting, special agents and personnel from the Salt Lake Field Office responded immediately.
02:41We have full resources devoted to this investigation, including tactical, operational, investigative, and intelligence.
02:49To be clear, the FBI will fully support and co-lead this investigation alongside with our partners.
02:55We are working on setting up a digital media tip line, and as soon as it's established, we'll get that information out to everyone.
03:02I know there's a lot of questions.
03:05This is very much an active case, and this investigation is in its early stages.
03:09We are following all the leads and all the evidence.
03:12If anyone has any information, please report it to the FBI or local law enforcement.
03:21On behalf of President Tubinez, who we've been communicating with, and she's on her way back right now, I say that on behalf of Utah Valley University, we are shocked and saddened by the tragic passing of Charlie Kirk.
03:34We express our sincere condolences to the Kirk family.
03:38We grieve with our students, faculty, and staff who bore witness to this unspeakable tragedy.
03:44He was invited by the student group Turning Point USA to speak on our campus.
03:49We firmly believe that UVU is a place to share ideas and to debate openly and respectfully.
03:56Any attempt to infringe on those rights has no place here.
04:00We do not condone any form of violence at UVU and seek to make our campus a safe place for all.
04:11Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us on this dark and tragic occasion.
04:17I want to thank our law enforcement officers who are leading this investigation, starting with Chief Long and his response here with the UVU Police Department.
04:29We're grateful for your leadership and your team.
04:33And again, to the speakers that you've just heard from who are co-leading this investigation.
04:39I also want to recognize Sheriff Mike Smith, who has been an invaluable partner as this investigation moves forward.
04:47I've been in touch with President Trump, with FBI Director Cash Patel.
04:53We are completely aligned with our state and federal partners as we work through this case.
05:01Now, this is a dark day for our state.
05:06It's a tragic day for our nation.
05:09And I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination.
05:13We are celebrating 250 years of the founding of this great nation.
05:27That founding document, the Declaration of Independence.
05:32That this great experiment on which we embarked together 250 years ago.
05:37That we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights.
05:41The first one of those is life.
05:44And today, a life was taken.
05:48Charlie Kirk was first and foremost a husband and a dad to two young children.
06:05He was also very much politically involved.
06:10And that's why he was here on campus.
06:13Charlie believed in the power of free speech and debate to shape ideas and to persuade people.
06:25Historically, our university campuses in this nation and here in the state of Utah have been the place where truth and ideas are formulated and debated.
06:36And that's what he does.
06:39He comes on college campuses and he debates.
06:43That is foundational to the formation of our country.
06:48To our most basic constitutional rights.
06:51And when someone takes the life of a person because of their ideas or their ideals, then that very constitutional foundation is threatened.
07:05Now, we have a person of interest in custody.
07:10The investigation is ongoing.
07:13But I want to make it crystal clear right now.
07:17To whoever did this, we will find you.
07:21We will try you.
07:24And we will hold you accountable to the furthest extent of the law.
07:29And I just want to remind people that we still have the death penalty here in the state of Utah.
07:45Our nation is broken.
07:48We've had political assassinations recently in Minnesota.
07:55We had an attempted assassination on the governor of Pennsylvania.
08:01And we had an attempted assassination on a presidential candidate and former president of the United States and now current president of the United States.
08:13Nothing I say can unite us as a country.
08:20Nothing I can say right now can fix what is broken.
08:23Nothing I can say can bring back Charlie Kirk.
08:28Our hearts are broken.
08:30We mourn with his wife, his children, his family, his friends.
08:36We mourn as a nation.
08:39If anyone in the sound of my voice celebrated even a little bit at the news of this shooting, I would beg you to look in the mirror and to see if you can find a better angel in there somewhere.
08:59I don't care what his politics are.
09:02I care that he was an American.
09:09We desperately need our country.
09:12We desperately need leaders in our country.
09:15But more than the leaders, we just need every single person in this country to think about where we are and where we want to be.
09:26To ask ourselves, is this it?
09:31Is this what 250 years has wrought on us?
09:36I pray that that's not the case.
09:39I pray that those who hated what Charlie Cook stood for will put down their social media and their pens and pray for his family.
09:55And that all of us, all of us, will try to find a way to stop hating our fellow Americans.
10:04With that, we're happy to take a few questions.
10:06The FBI director is posting that a suspect is in custody.
10:10I would just like clarification.
10:12Do you or do you not have a suspected shooter in custody?
10:14We have a person of interest in custody that is being interviewed right now.
10:18That is not George Zinn?
10:21That is not George Zinn.
10:22That is correct.
10:23Are you still looking for another shooter or anybody else?
10:28Yes, we are actively looking for anyone and everyone who has any possible information relating to the shooting.
10:37Can you tell us details about the suspect being taken into custody? Where? How long ago?
10:44We cannot at this point.
10:46But we will get you that information when we can.
10:49Is there believed to be a second individual involved in the shooting?
10:54At this point, there is no information that would lead us to believe that there is a second person involved.
11:00Can you guys talk about the possible shooter?
11:03Do you want to talk about what we know there?
11:08Yeah.
11:09The only information we have on the suspect, the possible shooter, is taken from closed circuit TV here on campus.
11:17We do have that.
11:18We are analyzing it.
11:20But it is security camera footage so you can kind of guess what the quality of that is.
11:26But we do know dressed in all dark clothing.
11:30But we do not have a much better description other than that.
11:33Where did the shot come from?
11:35The shot came from here on campus from a location at a fair...
11:42From the roof?
11:43Potentially from a roof, yes.
11:45A longer distance shot from a roof.
11:48So to clarify, with the security camera footage you have and the person interested in custody, do those, does that match up?
11:54That's what we're trying to decipher right now.
11:56Did FBI or DHS have anything on the threat board this morning?
12:00I can't speak of that.
12:02I'll just say that the investigation is ongoing.
12:06And as soon as we have further information, we will be sure to release it.
12:09Any indications of foreign intelligence involvement?
12:11As of now, I can't comment on any of that.
12:14Can you talk a little bit about the security of the event itself?
12:16But who was there security-wise and what happens on these kind of events?
12:21So my name is Jeff Long.
12:24I'm the police chief here at UVU.
12:26And I'll tell you right now, we are devastated.
12:28We're a small police department.
12:30We have a very large campus.
12:32We have over 40,000 students.
12:34And we love our students.
12:35We love our visitors.
12:36And we're devastated by what happened today.
12:38This is the police chief's nightmare.
12:40I'm very saddened for the Kirk family.
12:44I know his wife and parents found out about this.
12:50Obviously, he's away from home.
12:51He's here in Utah.
12:52And they find out by a police officer that visits their home.
12:56That's tragic.
12:57Nobody wants that.
12:58But I can tell you about our venue today.
12:59This was an open venue.
13:00This was outside.
13:01We did have six officers working that event.
13:04We had probably over 3,000 people that were in attendance.
13:09It sat down in kind of a bowl area here on the central campus.
13:12We have a waterfall area.
13:14And so he was kind of in a lower area surrounded by buildings.
13:19You know, we had some plainclothes police officers that were in the crowd as well.
13:25You know, we trained for these things.
13:27And you think you have things covered.
13:30And, you know, these things, you know, unfortunately, they happen.
13:35You try to get your bases covered.
13:37And unfortunately, today, we didn't.
13:39And because of that, we had this tragic incident.
13:42So we did have officers there.
13:44We had Charlie Kirk's team.
13:46He has a security team that travels with him.
13:48And they were here with him when he was shot.
13:52Was the gun recovered?
13:53I'm sorry, see?
13:54Was the weapon recovered?
13:56At this point, I can't disclose that.
14:00When Charlie Kirk was shot, there was a question being asked about mass shooting.
14:03Was that person apprehended?
14:05And do you know who asked that question?
14:07Say the question again.
14:08I don't know if I understand what you're saying.
14:10When Charlie Kirk was shot, he was answering a question about mass shooting specifically.
14:14Was that person apprehended?
14:16And do you know who asked that question?
14:18I do not.
14:19We do not have that at this moment.
14:21Ladies and gentlemen, we have time for just one more question.
14:26So thank you.
14:27Yeah.
14:28I have a question for the chief as well.
14:30Was it your team or Kirk's team or a combination of both that kind of set the security protocol for the event?
14:37So we worked together.
14:39He has his team.
14:40And they do this all over the country.
14:41We all know that.
14:42This is not uncommon for them.
14:44They're very comfortable on campuses.
14:46And I was coordinating with his lead security guy.
14:49And so, yeah, we were working together.
14:52Was this a shot shooter type shot?
14:55Was this a shooter?
14:56Ladies and gentlemen, those are all the questions that will be answered today.
14:59Again, thank you for covering this.
15:02We will be updating you as soon as we have additional information through normal channels, working with law enforcement.
15:11Again, our deepest condolences to the Kirk family and to the students who were there today.
15:19And I would just ask everyone everywhere to please pray for their family and pray for our country.
15:27We need it now more than ever.
15:29To our media partners, we will be sending a release out with updates through one channel of information, whether it's DPS or FBI.
15:48So please make sure that you fill out the Google form with updates specific to this incident.
16:01Thanks for all your health, man.
16:02Yep.
16:03I appreciate it.
16:04I'm trying to get it.
16:05I think this is ours.
16:06I hope this is yours.
16:07Thanks for all your makeup.
16:08Yep.
16:09Appreciate it.
16:11I'm trying to get it.
16:12I think this is ours.
16:13Watch your step.
16:14watch your step some very strong words here in regards to what happened here obviously a real
16:32tragedy he is calling this as you mentioned a political assassination of somebody that
16:37came after and wanted to take him out and so we believe right now from what's been happening as
16:44far as what they were able to tell us they do have a personal interest in custody they also have
16:50another person that they're looking at but they're not saying whether or not the two are related so
16:56again one person in custody here is that the actual shooter we don't know but they did say he is a person
17:03of interest and as far as them looking for others they say they are still canvassing the area they're
17:08still canvassing yeah that's right we certainly did get at least confirmation of what was happening
17:24there when I did ask the governor and the Department of Public Safety Commissioner the FBI just asking
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